LeBron James gets 3 million Black viewers to watch his ‘decision’ on ESPN

Out of the roughly 10 million curious basketball-loving cable viewers that waited weeks to finally see LeBron James announce he would be leaving Cleveland for Miami, one-third were Black viewers. It’s the first time ESPN claimed the No.1 show in Black households that wasn’t a live game.

As if they knew LeBronmania would provide the perfect theme for their new sports-based shows, VH1 scored a success with its two new reality entries, “Ochocinco: The Ultimate Catch” and “The T.O. Show 2.” Both debuted with about a million Black viewers.

The summer continues to be a time of exploratory viewing for Black cable watchers, especially the younger ones. TBS’ block of Tyler Perry comedies still commands the largest audience of any network, with 8.4 million watching its Top 25 shows. ESPN took second among most watched networks with 4.9 million for the LeBron block. BET was third with 2.9 million for three shows.

The total number of viewers for the Top 25 most popular cable shows in Black homes, as cited by Nielsen, rose by 15 percent over the previous week to 28.5 million.